Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, wearing a scarf she got from The Knotty Tie Company, gets ready to address a packed crowd in the Eagle's Nest gymnasium at Adams City High School on Wednesday in Commerce City. Clinton also visited The Knotty Tie Company in Denver on the same visit to Colorado. (Helen H. Richardson / The Denver Post)

COMMERCE CITY — Days after Donald Trump's visit, Hillary Clinton returned to Colorado to offer a rebuttal — blasting her Republican rival Wednesday for outsourcing the manufacturing of his branded products to other countries and his criticism of the family of a fallen soldier.

"There is no doubt in my mind that Donald Trump is unqualified to be president and unfit to be commander in chief," Clinton told a crowd of 2,000 in the gymnasium at Adams City High School.

In this working class suburb north of Denver, where some voters feel left behind by the state's economic recovery, Clinton pledged to create "millions of jobs with rising incomes" and the "biggest infrastructure investment programs since World War II."

"We are not satisfied with where we are in the country," Clinton said, "but we think we know how to make progress together."

The message did not convince everyone in the crowd. LakeeVia Jackson, 25, said before the speech that she was "still on the fence" about her favorite in the race and remained uncommitted afterward, despite praising Clinton's focus on raising the minimum wage and ensuring equal pay for women.

The Democratic candidate pivoted often to Trump in her remarks, condemning his business practices, particularly how his products are made in other countries.

But her strongest words came in a visit earlier in the afternoon to Knotty Tie, a Denver clothing maker that employs African refugees.

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Clinton hit Trump in her Democratic convention acceptance speech for making ties "in China, not Colorado," a claim PolitiFact has found mostly true.

"I would really like him to explain why he paid Chinese workers to make Trump ties," she continued, holding up a red Trump tie. "Instead of deciding to make those ties right here in Colorado with a company like Knotty."

"If he wants to 'make America great again,' he should start by making things in America," she added a moment later, reprising Trump's campaign slogan. "And there's a lot he could learn by coming here."

Clinton continued to highlight Trump's clash with Khizr and Ghazala Khan, the parents of a Muslim American soldier killed in Iraq as evidence he does not respect military families. She added: "Anyone who can be provoked by a tweet should not be anywhere near nuclear weapons."

The topic resonated with Sheila Gillespie, 60, of Denver, who joked that she had been a Clinton supporter for all of two and a half hours. She and her husband felt offended by Trump's treatment of the Khan family.

"Trump is just too crazy," she said. "We're a military family."

Trump visited Denver and Colorado Springs on Friday and dispatched his running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, to visit the same two cities Wednesday to push back against Clinton's criticisms.

At a Denver rally, Pence said Trump would bolster national defense, local law enforcement and the nation's economy, while Clinton would represent more of the same policies as the past eight years.

"Seven and a half years of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton has weakened America's place in the world," Pence said.

The repeated visits from the White House hopefuls indicates that Colorado is a battleground state, even as Democrats express confidence and polling offers a mixed picture.

The Clinton campaign and a super PAC supporting her bid, Priorities USA, are spending less in the state to focus resources on states where the contest is closer. The Clinton campaign's latest TV ad is running in battleground states but not Colorado.

An average of recent polling gives Clinton an 8-point edge, but other surveys are showing a dead-heat race with the candidates separated by a mere 1 or 2 percentage points. What the state provides the campaign is money. Clinton held a high-dollar fundraiser Tuesday in Aspen and another Wednesday south of Denver.

In a political memo issued before Clinton's visit, the campaign's state director said it is not slowing its efforts. "Our focus remains the same — organizing across Colorado and taking nothing for granted," Emmy Ruiz wrote.

Clinton declined an interview request from The Denver Post. The candidate has not held a news conference since Dec. 4, 2015.

Not everyone at the rally came pleased to see Clinton. A protester interrupted her speech in Commerce City to display a banner that read: "Ignoring DNC corruption" — a reference to the e-mail scandal plaguing the party — before being removed by security.

Other voters at the rally expressed their own reluctance about Clinton. "I'll probably still vote Democrat, but I'd like to have more excitement about it," said Garrett Hernandez, a 22-year-old who favored Bernie Sanders in the party's presidential primary.

Marian Gonzalez, a longtime Hillary Clinton supporter, said she's optimistic that the investment in infrastructure — roads, bridges, broadband internet — that Clinton promised would help the economy.

"That's definitely going to get jobs for people," Gonzalez said. "I do feel more excited now."

Jeff Reiman praised Clinton for focusing on small businesses and improving the economy in her speech.

Reiman has voted both Democratic and Republican in previous elections. His take-away from Clinton's speech in Commerce City was "that the country is much better in her hands than in Donald Trump's."

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